Monday, April 9, 2018

An Indigenous woman scholar’s prayer.

May I grow old enough to be forgotten.

May my questions become passé,may my bibliographies become outdated,may my theories be superceded,may I be obsolete.

May I teach students who teach students who teach students:may I meet these younger thinkers at conferences,may I read and cite their work, may I watch them stand more stably than I could ever have dreamed.

May I sit in committee meetings where young colleagues raise new challengesbecause the old ones have finally been put to rest.

May I watch the old guard quietly move on, but more than this:may I live long enough to be part of an old guardwho younger scholars wish would retire.(May I get to retire.)

May I see scores of Indigenous scholarswrite hundreds of Indigenous booksthat ask thousands of Indigenous questions.

May I meet Indigenous vice-chancellors, presidents, professors, and deans;may they not all be men.

May I lie on a future death-bed and look back with regrets related to workrather than regrets related to family.